Archive for the ‘Disney Channel’

This Fast Company article on Phineas and Ferb is interesting for a couple of reasons, not the least of which are the facts and figures how the show’s license and merchandising compares with SpongeBob’s. From Frederator’s point-of-view there’s an even bigger take-away. You might know we’re a cartoon company whose output has been (nearly) 100% creator based, meaning the folks, usually cartoonists, who come up with the idea are also the ones who run the show. So while there’s always that tendency for networks to veer in the opposite direction of how we like to work, it’s great to know this creator-based cartoon - at a network far from being known for its catering to the visions of creators - is now “the top cable animated series among 6- to 14-year-olds.” So, good for Disney for supporting the show, and a bigger congratulations to [Read more…]

So I give props to Aliki last week in this post, and, the next thing I know, she’s buying me lunch at the Disney commissary and showing me around the Phineas and Ferb production offices. (It turns out her storyboard partner on the show when he’s not on vacation is Antoine Guilbaud, the guy who made “Herb” back in the old days of Oh Yeah! Cartoons.) We also ran into Ph & F’s creators, Dan Povenmire and Jeff ‘Swampy’ Marsh, above. You know, the commissary at Disney’s has bottles of about half a dozen different flavors of syrup you can squirt right into your soda at no extra charge. I went with the standard vanilla Coke. A good afternoon.

So for the week of 6/30 to 7/6, the Disney Channel owned the top ten shows for kids between the ages of six and eleven, according to Nielsen. The two cartoon slots (Nos five and eight) were held by Phineas and Ferb. P&F made the charts earlier this year, but it’s been a loooooooong time since anyone saw a Disney cartoon hit the top ten before that. In fact, I have no idea when it happened last. My take is Phineas and Ferb is usually met with indifference within the animation community, lacking the ‘buzz’ of other, less successful shows. That doesn’t matter, though, as the show has unmistakably scored with its intended audience. It’s safe to say Phineas and Ferb is Disney’s most popular TV cartoon since… what? Congratulations to the cast and crew.